After World War II (DDT)

Decent Essays
During the use of DDT, after World War II, crop yields increased greatly in the United States and overseas. This is because the pesticide killed many of the insects that consumed the essential crops. Author Lillian Forman states, “After the war, DDT helped ensure that starving Europeans, not bugs, ate the crops that farmers were once more able to plant. When the chemical was made available to the American public, it was welcomed as a means of boosting agricultural production, suppressing pests, and protecting shade trees, orchards, and gardens” (Forman). Due to the increase in crop production, there was a greater abundance of crops available for the citizens of the countries that used DDT as a pesticide. Furthermore, the more crops meant that there were fewer people hungry in these countries. …show more content…
Pesticides, like DDT, have been an essential part of the process for reducing losses from weeds, diseases, and insects that can extensively reduce the amount of harvestable produce. DDT is important in farming. Another article states, “According to Admission 7 of the record, approximately 86% or 10,277,258 pounds of domestically used DDT is applied to cotton crops. The same admission indicates that 603,053 pounds and 937,901 pounds, or approximately 5 and 9% of the total formulated by twenty-seven of the petitioners in these hearings are used respectively on soybean and peanut crops” (Administrator). Due to this much of insecticide being used on these beneficial crops, plenty was able to strive and produce heartier

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